Today’s article will cover all you need to know about brake car parts and how they work. Enjoy this little refresher course to bring you up to speed on the most important system on your vehicle; brake car parts.

Brake Pedal: Where it all starts, from your point of view. The pedal itself is a mechanical lever, and has to provide enough leverage to work the brakes if the power booster fails.

Booster: The power brake booster is either vacuum or hydraulically operated, and it produces extra force on the pistons inside the master cylinder when the brakes are applied, reducing brake pedal effort. Modern vehicles are equipped with boosters because they are also equipped with boosters because they are also equipped with disc brakes, and the disc brakes require more force than drum brakes do.

Master Cylinder: Below the brake fluid reservoir is the master cylinder car part, which is where the brake pedal effort (force) is converted to hydraulic effort (pressure), and transmitted to each brake through the hydraulic lines and hoses.

Brake Fluid: Pressing the brake pedal moves the brake fluid through the lines to each brake, where the hydraulic pressure is converted back to mechanical force once more, as the pads and shoes move into contact with the discs and drums car parts.

Brake Hoses: For most of the way from the master cylinder to the wheels, the fluid goes through rigid metal brake pipes. At the suspension, where movement is needed, the pipes connect to flexible hoses. The standard rubber hoses are fine when they’re new, but replacing old ones with great looking braided hoses is a good move – in theory, it improves braking, as braided hoses expand less than rubber ones, and transmit more fluid pressure.

Calipers: These car parts act like a clamp to force the brake pads against the discs – fluid pressure forces a piston outwards, which presses the brake pads onto the disc. Generally, the more pistons your calipers have, the more surface area the brake fluid has on which to push, providing greater clamping power.

Discs: Clamped to your wheel hubs, the discs spin around as fast as your wheels. Over 90% of braking is done by the front brakes, which is why all modern vehicles have front discs – they work much better than drums, because they dissipate heat better.

Drum Brakes: Drum brakes car parts are very efficient until they get wet or too hot, they don’t shed water or heat nearly as well as a disc brake does. They are also harder car parts to work on or upgrade.

Pads and Shoes: Both have a metal backing plate, with friction lining attached. Brake linings used to be made of an asbestos compound, which had excellent heat-resisting qualities but could cause cancer or asbestos in people who breathed in the dust. Now they come in non-asbestos organic car parts (stock), or for higher-performance applications, semi-metallic or carbon metallic

Author - Keith Winton

Keith Winton writes regular articles on many and varied Automotive topics…Find more of his articles at drive-werks.com